Yours Truly

Cut and Thrust (comments)

I'm my own ombudsman

Comments & criticism are welcome.
Please feel free to suggest story ideas, corrections, etc. If you want to e-mail, spam or scam me, my address is on the Facebook badge lower down this page.
Photos I use and credit are from named Flickr users who gave them a Creative Commons Licence, unless otherwise specified.
All uncredited photos & films are mine and free to use, Woody Guthrie style.

About "The Oracle of Amsterdam"

I'm just this guy, you know? Any opinions I accidentally express on this site are not those of my employer.
Old friends (or foes, for the nostalgia) from Palo Alto, Swarthmore, Rome, Philadelphia, Paris, Berkeley or Amsterdam feel free to drop me a line...

Monday, May 25, 2009

I've been living wild adventures, in my own mind. So much to tell, but another time, perhaps.

Meanwhile, I noticed this unusual sight on the way home from work tonight.

Beautiful yet creepy or creepy yet beautiful? The Dutch call them "spinselmotten" or "stippelmotten" (that is, 'spinning moths' or 'spotted moths'). They form large colonies and apparently strip the trees bare, but are not dangerous for people.

A little white butterfly with black spots is the cause and result of all this. If I see them hatching I'll take a picture and update this post.

This was behind Artis zoo, but the critters are turning up all over North Holland because of the unusually warm spring weather.

I also saw a car crash on the way home, on the same bike ride, but that's not so interesting, is it?

Somebody shouted at me as I took the photo below, "who do you think you are, a reporter?"